Household cleaning and personal care products are generally purchased as finished products in disposable packaging. Many of these finished products consist primarily of water—in some cases over 90 percent—and a relatively small percentage of active ingredients. As such, this means that a consumer pays a significant cost for water, including the cost of transporting the water from a factory to a marketplace. This is not to mention the environmental cost of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting the water. Additionally, consumers are also paying for disposable packaging materials, such as bottles, caps and dispensing systems like trigger sprayers and pumps, which typically either end up in a landfill, or are recycled as a best case scenario. Although some finished products are now being packaged in flexible packaging, which generally has a lower cost and smaller environmental footprint compared to rigid packaging, such finished products still consist primarily of water.
On a related note, finished products that consist primarily of water are inherently bulky and, therefore, take up a great deal of space, whether on a shelf in a retail environment, or in storage within a residential or commercial building. The concentrates necessary to produce the same volume of finished products are far less bulky, thereby resulting in meaningful transportation, merchandising and storage efficiencies.
Moreover, the existing finished product solution market generally limits a consumer to particular product options that are mass-produced by a manufacturer and offers little or no options for personalization and customization. Consumer choice is further limited by what a retailer stocks. If a consumer has acquired a personal preference for a particular fragrance, concentration, or other product parameter or ingredient, those preferences may not be available for certain products or the preferred fragrance, ingredient or other parameter may vary widely depending on the finished product manufacturer.